Fly-exit for screens.



No.'699,737. Patented May I3, 1902., G. F.'WOBK|NG. FLY EXIT FORSCREENS. (Application filed Apr. 26', 1901.)

(I0 Model) lTE STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES F. l/VORKING, OF OTTUMWA, IOWA.

FLY-EXIT FOR SCREENS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 699,7 37, dated May 13,1902.

Application filed April 26, 1901. Serial No. 57,557. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES F. WORKING, a citizen of the United Statesof America, and aresident of Ottumwa,Wapello county, Iowa, have inventeda new and useful Door and Window Screen Fly-Exit, of which the followingis a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide means for the exit or escapeof house-flies or other insects from the inner surface of awindow-screenor door-screen without necessitating the removal of said screen.

My invention is based on an observation of the habits of house-flies intheir attraction to the light and their tendency to crawl or walkupwardly along the inner surface of a window or screen, evidentlyseeking an opportnnity to escape into the sun lighted and warmatmosphere exterior of a room or inclosure.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement, and combinationof elements hereinafter set forth-,pointed out in my claims, andillustrated by the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a faceView of my improved attachment unattached to a screen. Fig. 2 is a faceview showing my improved attachment mounted on a screen-door as requiredfor practical use. Fig. 3 isa cross-section of my improved attachmentand the upper bar of the screen-door, showing in further detail andenlarged View the construction of device and means for attaching thesame to the door.

In the construction of the device as shown the numeral 10 designates abar, preferably made of wood and formed with a beveled edge 11, aportion of which edge is beveled on an angle of about forty-five degreesto the plane of the face of the bar, and the remaining portion isbeveled on an angle of about thirty degrees to said face.

The numeral 12 designates a bar, preferably made of woodand formed witha beveled edge 13 at an angle of about forty-five degrees to theface ofsaid bar. 7

The bars '10 12 are of approximately the same thickness and are arrangedwith their beveled faces in proximity to each other and spaced apart bywedges or strips 14, 15, and 16, which strips are of such thickness asto produce a slot of desired width between the bars and are so shaped asto hold the faces of the bars in alinement whensaid bars are connectedby nails driven through their edges and through the strips, asillustrated in Fig. 3. A concave 17 is formed in the edge 13 of the bar12 and opens broadly to the slot between the bars, one wall of theconcave taporing out gradually to the outer extremity of said slot. Aconcave 18 is formed in the edge 11 of the bar 10 and opens to the slotbetween said bars opposite to the concave 17, and one wall of saidconcave tapers out gradually to the outer edge of the slot. The concaves17 18 extend to material depth in the bars 1210, and the strips 14, 15,and 16 are shaped to fill and fit transversely of said concaves, thusforming partitions in the con-- caves and plugs for the ends thereof.

The device, composed of the bars 10 12 and the strips 14, 15, and 16,should be of a length corresponding closely to the width of a door orwindow opening and may be employed by mounting said device between theupper edge of an upper window-sash and the lower faces of the header ofthe window-frame, with the slot of the device inclined outwardly andupwardly from the inside to the outside of the window. In such positionthe device serves as means of permitting the escape of housefiies andother insects from the inner faces of the window to the sun warmed andlighted exterior of the inclosu're, inasmuch as said house-flies willcrawl upward on the windowglassand seek escape through the slot.

It sometimes occurs that house-flies will attempt to enter through theslot of the device, and it is to avoid suchentering that I have providedthe concaves 17 18 opening to the slot in order that the fly, followingthe surface of the slot, will enter one or the, other of the at itslower and side edges to the door in an ordinary manner; but its upperedge is bent into the wider inner edge of the slot and fixed to thebeveled face of the door 10, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The bar 10 may bescrewed to the side rails 21 22 and the middle rail 23 of the door. Whenemployed in conjunction with a door, as illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, myimproved device presents a slot opening upward and outward from a pointimmediately below the head-bar 19 of the door and enables the house-flyto crawl upward along the inner face of the screen 20 and out throughsaid slot. My improved device may be similarly mounted on a screen-frameemployed to close a window or other opening, the slot being arrangedimmediately below the headbar of said frame.

I claim as my invention- 1. In a fiy-exit for screens, the combinationof two bars rigidly connected together and spaced apart, a slot formedbetween said bars narrowing toward the exterior of the door, and aconcaved recess in each edge of said slot so shaped that both edgesthereof slant toward the exterioropening of the slot.

2. The combination of a screen frame formed withahead-bar, two barsfixed to said screen-frame and spaced apart, the edges of the bars beingbeveled to form a slot, the slot and the lower bar overlapping the loweredge of said head-bar and a screen on said frame, the upper edge of saidscreen being bent within the slot and fixed to the lower bar, the

beveled edges of the bars being formed with 35 concaves opening to saidslot.

Signed by me at Ottumwa, day of April, 1901.

CHARLES F. WORKING. Witnesses:

GEo. F. HEINDEL, WM. S. PARKER.

Iowa, this 20th

